India's mobile price war just claimed another victim

The fierce battle for India's hundreds of millions of mobile users has claimed another casualty.Aircel, the co...

Posted: Feb. 28, 2018 6:45 AM

Updated: Feb. 28, 2018 11:26 AM

The fierce battle for India's hundreds of millions of mobile users has claimed another casualty.

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Aircel, the country's fifth-largest wireless operator with around 85 million subscribers, filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday, the latest company in an increasingly cutthroat industry to throw in the towel.

The firm, owned by Malaysian communications group Maxis, said it was folding in the face of "troubled times in a highly financially stressed industry." Those troubles include "legal and regulatory challenges, high level of unsustainable debt and increased losses," it said in a statement.

It also blamed "intense competition following the disruptive entry of a new player."

That disruptive new entrant is Reliance Jio, the $20 billion network founded by India's wealthiest man, Mukesh Ambani. Soon after launching in September 2016, Jio offered its customers free 4G for the first six months. The network raced to 160 million subscribers by the end of 2017.